The Department of Justice E-Book Price-Fixing Case: All Our Coverage

Sep 19, 2012

Stay up to date with the Department of Justice e-book price-fixing suit with PW's extensive coverage. Here is an archive of our stories, following the case from the initial investigation to the settlement and beyond. If you're looking for a primer, we've called out a few key stories from the case -- they're at the top of the list. Below that you'll find all of our coverage, updated as the case progresses.

Key moments in the case

DOJ Files Antitrust Suit The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, HarperCollins and Macmillan, charging them with colluding to raise e-book prices when they moved from the wholesale model to the agency model. Reports have S&S, Hachette and HC agreeing to settle with the DOJ, while Penguin is opting to fight the charges.

Three Publishers Agree to $69 Million State Deal The Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have reached a $69 million agreement that will resolve lawsuits brought by 54 attorney generals from 49 states, the District of Columbia and territories, that charged the publishers with fixing e-book prices.

DoJ Says Court Should Approve E-book Deal Without Delay The Department of Justice says that arguments made by Apple, Macmillan and Penguin as well as the friend of the court brief filed by the ABA and Barnes & Noble objecting to the final judgment reached between the government and Hachette, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster over e-book price fixing charges raise no real new issues and therefore asks that the court approve the agreement without further hearings.

Court Accepts ABA/B&N Brief in DoJ Price Fixing Case The ABA and Barnes & Noble joint motion to file a friend of the court brief as part of the hearing to approve the final settlement between the Department of Justice and Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins has been granted by Judge Denise Cote who will rule on the judgment later this year.

DoJ Files Motion Asking for Court Approval of E-book Agreement The Department of Justice late Friday filed a motion with Judge Denise Cote asking her to approve the final judgment that the government reached with Hachette, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins in the DoJ lawsuit that charged the three with colluding with Apple to fix e-book prices.

ABA, B&N File Joint Motion for Amicus Brief in DoJ Deal The American Booksellers Association and Barnes & Noble have teamed up to file a motion for permission to file a "friend of the court" brief in the Department of Justice’s settlement agreement with Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and HarperCollins.

DoJ Reviews Comments, Says E-book Deal to Go Ahead After receiving 868 comments regarding its proposed settlement with Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins in its e-book price fixing lawsuit, the Department of Justice has determined that the proposed “final judgment” provides “an appropriate and effective remedy” for the antitrust violations alleged in its complaint “and therefore is in the public interest.”

Bookseller Groups Disappointed by DoJ Response Both the American Booksellers Association and the National Association of College Stores, which together represent roughly 4,500 booksellers, expressed their concerns and astonishment over the Department of Justice’s response to 868 comments regarding the consent decree with settling publishers involved in the DoJ’s suit on the agency model. Of those comments more than 90% opposed the settlement, including 200 from bookstores.

Authors Guild Sees Return of Predatory Pricing if DoJ Deal Stands The Authors Guild minced no words in saying that the agreement would be a huge victory for Amazon. ”The Guild does not support the DOJ’s proposed e-book settlement. We believe it will allow Amazon to resume its predatory pricing practices, discouraging competition in the e-book marketplace,” was how the Guild summarized its view of the deal.

Indie Publishers Back Agency Model, Criticize DoJ Deal Nine independent publishers have combined to file joint comments objecting to the pending settlements of the Department of Justice's lawsuit related to e-book pricing. The publishers noted that while they continue to sell e-books under the wholesale model, they have “benefitted significantly”--along with authors, booksellers and consumers--from the ability of the Big Six publishers to adopt the agency pricing model with Amazon.

How the DoJ Changes the Agency vs. Wholesale Argument Don Linn, president of Firebrand Associates, offered the paradox concerning the wholesale vs. agency discussion running through publishing circles: "Publishers (often) earn more with wholesale than agency--so what's all the fuss about Amazon?"

Books-A-Million Adds It Voice in Opposing DoJ Deal BAM’s letter, signed by president and CEO Terry Finley, strikes especially hard at the provisions in the settlement that would impose restrictions on how the publishers can do business with all third parties (including BAM) that were not involved in the lawsuit.

ABA to DoJ: Keep the Agency Model American Booksellers Association CEO Oren Teicher weighed in against the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed consent decree with Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. In a letter to the DoJ, Teicher raised the specter that changing the current e-book distribution system away from the agency model will force a large number of independent bookstores out of e-book sales market.

DoJ Has Received 150 Comments on E-book Case Explaining that it has received a “voluminous” amount of comments regarding the e-book price-fixing charges it filed against Apple and five publishers, the Department of Justice has asked Judge Denise Cote to allow the department to bypass print publication of the letters in the Federal Register in favor of posting them on the antitrust division Web site.

AAR Urges Members to Write to DoJ Opposing Antitrust Settlement After Writers House agent and Association of Authors Representatives digital rights committee member Simon Lipskar got some traction from an open letter he wrote to the DoJ listing, in great detail, the ways in which the department's suit against publishers was misguided and ill-informed, the AAR is making public an official letter of its own.

The Upside of the DOJ Lawsuit Editorial: It is as true for organizations, companies, and industries as it is for individuals that sometimes we need to be pushed to do what is best for us. That certainly appears to be the case with the publishers’ business model for e-books and its competitive strategy with Amazon.

ABA Calls DoJ Ruling "Baffling" Amid a barrage of largely puzzled and angry reactions within the book publishing community to the antitrust lawsuit the Department of Justice filed alleging five of the largest publishers colluded with Apple to fix e-book prices, the American Booksellers Association told PW it found the government's action "baffling."

DOJ Files Antitrust Suit The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple and Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, HarperCollins and Macmillan, charging them with colluding to raise e-book prices when they moved from the wholesale model to the agency model. Reports have S&S, Hachette and HC agreeing to settle with the DOJ, while Penguin is opting to fight the charges.

Regionals Contact Congressional Leaders about DOJ Investigation Following American Booksellers Association CEO Oren Teicher’s update in last week’s Bookselling This Week on the Department of Justice investigation into agency pricing and e-book price fixing, regional associations are moving to put pressure on the DOJ through their congressional leaders to keep the agency model in place in order to ensure a more diverse marketplace.

Turow Slams Prospect of DoJ Antitrust Suit While publishers have been publicly silent on the prospect that the Department of Justice may file suit against Penguin, Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, and HarperCollins along with Apple charging them with colluding to raise the price of e-books, Authors Guild president Scott Turow has posted a letter to members giving voice to what the houses are likely feeling. Turow called the prospect of an antitrust suit, “grim news for everyone who cherishes a rich literary culture.”

Justice Department May Sue Apple, Five Major Houses The Justice Department has warned Apple and Penguin, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster that it plans to sue them for allegedly colluding to raise the price of electronic books by adopting the agency pricing model. The DoJ has been investigating the issue for months.

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